Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper hailed the attitude of his players after their 4-1 thumping of Blackpool at Bloomfield Road.
The Reds toppled the Seasiders with a Brennan Johnson brace and strikes apiece for Philip Zinckernagel and Sam Surridge. It meant they returned from the international break in style, and puts them firmly in the top-six mix with nine games to go.
Johnson had also earned rave reviews while on duty with Wales. And he shone again with two clinical finishes to secure three points on the coast.
Read more: Relive the action from Forest's clash at Bloomfield Road
Read more: How the Reds rated against Blackpool
“I didn’t say anything to Brennan, but when he’s come back from international duty in recent times, he’s took a little bit to get going again,” said Cooper. “And he hadn’t played in those camps.
“In this one, he did. So it was interesting to see how he played.
“He was excellent. He is excellent, isn’t he?
“His whole approach to playing for the team and the contribution he makes is always a good one. It was good.
“The most pleasing thing today is that everyone is obviously really happy with the result. But as soon as we’d said thanks and congratulations to everybody, the attitude was, ‘right, let’s get on to the next one’. I really like that.
“In terms of the game plan, it was job well done from the boys.
“As well as it going to be a really tough game in terms of how Blackpool play and their home form, the challenge was to try to pick up where we left off. Fortunately, we did.
“We were going really well before the international break. We had some players not come back in the building until the last 48 hours, which adds to the challenge.
“They test you, Blackpool, with the way they play. Fortunately, we showed enough clinical play to make the most of the space they gave us.”
